Three of kind

Part 1

"Hi," she greets her back.

Erica looks up expectantly at Karina, as if wondering why their guest is still standing outside the door instead of coming inside.

"I'll see you around then," Minjeong politely takes her leave, waves goodbye to the little girl and walks down the stairs.

"Why did she leave?" Erica asks as she's ushered inside by her mother.

"She needs to sleep. We have to be quiet, okay? Let's not wake her up for the second time," Karina tells the girl and lowers the volume of the TV.

"Sleep?"

"Yes, sleep. You have to sleep soon too."

"I'm not sleepy!" the girl retorts as she crosses her arms and pouts cutely, leaning back on her seat on the couch, facing the TV.

Karina doesn't respond to the little protest and continues cleaning up the living room before she goes to the kitchen to warm up some milk as per Erica's bedtime ritual.

"Mommy?" her daughter calls right after she finishes pouring the milk into the bottle.

"Yes?"

"What's her name?"

"What's whose name? Who are you talking about?"

"That lady."

"Which lady?" Karina takes the bottle to the living room, sits down next to her and hands it over.

"Yellow hair lady."

"Yellow hair-... ah. Minjeong?"

"Min-on?"

"Min...jeong," says Karina, clearly pronouncing every syllable.

The girl can only mumble in reply since she's too preoccupied with her milk and has already gotten into a comfortable position, sleepiness finally getting to her.

"Come on. Time for bed." Karina groans and grunts as she lifts the sleepy girl and carries her to the bedroom. "You're getting big," she mutters under her breath.

Once the girl's finished her milk and has been tucked safely in her bed, Karina continues with her chores and decides to get Minjeong something to make up for the inconvenience because she has a feeling that tonight isn't the first time that they have been too noisy for their downstairs neighbor.

====

Minjeong is washing the dishes after dinner when her doorbell rings.

She quickly dries her hands, goes to check the door and gets quite a surprise when she sees who it is.

With her eyebrows raised, she pushes her door open to see Karina and a grinning girl hiding behind her legs.

"Good evening," greets Karina with a polite bow. "I hope this isn't a bad time."

"Not at all." Minjeong's eyes meet the girl's and she grins at her before returning her gaze to Karina.

"I'm Karina. From upstairs?" says Karina in case Minjeong doesn't recognize her.

The blonde nods. "Can I help you with anything?"

"We just want to apologize again for the noise the other day," Karina says, showing Minjeong the box in her hands. "I hope you like cupcakes. Baked them ourselves. Erica is in charge of the frostings and decorations as you can probably see for yourself," she adds with an apologetic smile on her face.

Minjeong takes the paper box, opens the lid a bit to peek and can't help but laugh when she sees the mess of colorful creams, icing sugar and toppings on top of six perfect chocolate cupcakes.